Who Knows the Question?

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. -- Voltaire

Our society loves clever kids.  We hold spelling and geography bees, lauding those whippersnappers who memorize and spit back the facts.  When a high school student scores a perfect 2400 on the SAT, we marvel at this amazing feat and the college doors that will be blown off the hinges by such prowess.  On a daily basis, teachers call on students with hands held high and give them a big smile or maybe even a Jolly Rancher if they answer correctly.  Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t appreciate these children and young adults who are exceedingly good at memorizing and maybe even applying some knowledge, but I think that we are really looking at the wrong end of the equation.  What we should be focusing on is teaching students how to ask the questions -- good questions.  That is a skill that will transcend knowing the capital of Botswana or even knowing how to spell “daiquiri.”

I love to hear adults tell kids, “Now, that’s a really good question.”  Is it a good question because the answer is not obvious?  Or, is it a good question because the answer is complex and may vary with circumstances or conditions?  Or, is it a good question because it demonstrates that the child understands enough about something to ask the right question that will get to the root of the problem.  Or, is it a good question because no one has yet found the answer?

It is not difficult to teach students to ask good questions, but too often we are intent on asking the questions themselves to get “right” answer.  I remember years ago attempting to get my students to write “good questions” after reading chapters in a novel.  Initially, they were terrible at asking meaningful questions simply because they had rarely been asked to do it.  But as the year progressed, they improved dramatically as we continued to discuss the meaning of “good questions,” and as we modeled good questions for each other.  It was freeing for the students not to have to remember inane details in the text to prove that they had read chapters 4 and 5.  Their questions showed that they had read and understood deep and sometimes subtle aspects of the story.

Of course the big problem for many schools and students is that the BIG TEST does not care about questioning.  I would love to see a big stakes assessment give students a picture, story, or scenario and tell students -- “After reading this passage or viewing this picture, ask a question about it and then explain the importance or significance of your question.”  Wow, that sure would be hard for the folks at ETS to score. I guess that's the problem . . . in order for this scenario to play out, we need to acknowledge that there is much more to school than answering someone else's questions.